Tech revolutionizes China's agriculture, empowering smart farming

China has significantly boosted policy support and resources for agricultural technological innovation in recent years, helping the sector enter the world's top tier and taking major strides in technological development and practical application.

Cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, and advanced agricultural machinery are being integrated throughout the entire farming process, enabling a more scientific and efficient approach to agriculture.

Smart farming empowered by AI

A notable transformation in China's agriculture is the introduction of AI and robotics into crop management.

In a modern agricultural park in Xindu District, Chengdu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, autonomous agricultural inspection robots have replaced traditional manual inspections to patrol rice fields. These robots, equipped with advanced AI models, can identify pests and diseases with high accuracy.

"The inspection robot can navigate autonomously along a preset route. During its journey, it collects data using an onboard blacklight camera. By integrating this data with the AI model's database, it can identify pests and diseases. For example, based on the photos captured by the robot, it can identify the Golden Apple Snail," said Lai Shiyang, a member of the inspection robot development team.

In Qionglai, a high-tech "smart brain" system enables agricultural technicians to remotely monitor large rice fields. This system gathers data on soil, environment and crop health, transmitting it to cloud platforms where AI models analyze the information and provide suggestions. It forecasts crop growth, estimates yields and even predicts pest outbreaks seven to 10 days in advance, allowing farmers to shift from reactive measures to proactive management.

Efficiency improved by modern machinery

Besides AI-powered systems, new tools are significantly boosting the efficiency of crop harvesting.

In a village in Yuncheng County, Heze City, in east China's Shandong Province, the introduction of a new corn harvester that simultaneously collects stalks and grain has largely reduced labor costs.

This harvester eliminates the need for secondary processing of stalks, which are instead collected and shredded for use as animal feed, helping to create a circular economy between agriculture and livestock farming.

The promotion and application of the new machinery in the county has reduced corn harvest losses to less than 2 percent, potentially boosting farmers' incomes by 60 million yuan (about $8.4 million), said Wu Tao, director of the agricultural machinery service center in Yuncheng.

Similar innovations are taking place in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, where intelligent corn harvesters are equipped with rubber chains to gently harvest the corn, minimizing damage and ensuring higher-quality produce.

The corn harvesters are highly intelligent, said Ye Tong, director of the harvesting machinery equipment laboratory at the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Machinery Engineering Sciences.

Ye noted that the harvesters are independently developed, a significant achievement given that the high-end machinery market was previously dominated by foreign firms, which is crucial for ensuring China's agricultural security and independence.

In a rice field managed by Qixing Farm Co., Ltd. under the Heilongjiang-based Beidahuang Group, drones are utilized to assess the maturity of rice, producing "ripeness maps" to guide the harvest.

In the maps, red means the crops are mature and ready for harvest, while the green indicates that the crops need more time to grow.

These drones, combined with AI-driven platforms, monitor every stage of crop growth, from sowing and fertilization to pest control and harvest, empowering farmers to make data-driven decisions, improving efficiency, reducing waste and enhancing overall productivity.